Irrigation systems are used to irrigate crops and landscaping in order to ensure optimum or near-optimum watering occurs, to supplement natural rainfall. However, water is a resource that often comes at a cost, and therefore it is important to not waste it by over-watering, or by poor maintenance of the irrigation system piping. Leakage can occur due to broken pipes and/or sprinkling heads. In addition to being wasteful, leakage can lower water pressure such that the unbroken components are unable to provide the intended amount of water in their respective area of irrigation/sprinkling. Accordingly, leakage is something that operators of the irrigation system seek to avoid.
Traditionally leakage is detected by inspection, and sometimes by reports when personnel accidently break a component in the system when performing other operations in the area (e.g. mowing). Inspections, however, being performed at intervals, can allow leakage to occur over a period of time, resulting in water being wasted, and areas not being sufficiently watered in the interim time before the leak is detected.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and apparatus for detecting leaks in irrigation systems.
Those skilled in the field of the present disclosure will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein. The details of well-known elements, structure, or processes that would be necessary to practice the embodiments, and that would be well known to those of skill in the art, are not necessarily shown and should be assumed to be present unless otherwise indicated.